We live in one of the best times to get books ever. There are millions of copies printed every day, and of course publishers have to do something to give people the incentive to buy their books. So every once in a while publishers will create a “special” or “collectors” edition of a book. Each of these editions will have extra content or a different physical appearance to the original book.

This is totally just a way for the publishers to make more money off of people, but unfortunately it works way to well for my own good. They could literally take all of my paycheck every week with all the amazing editions out there.

I am very guilty of owning multiple copies of my favorite books. For example, I have four editions of The Cruel Prince, and each edition is unique. To further elaborate on my Cruel Prince collection, I have the Advance Reader Copy, The original finished copy, the Owlcrate exclusive cover edition and the Barnes and Noble edition with the black cover and extra content.

I also have both the Lady Midnight and Lord of Shadows Waterstones editions. These books are my pride and joy, and they look absolutely gorgeous sitting there on my shelf. I fully plan on getting the Queen of Air and Darkness one when it releases so I can have a matching set.

I even got a UK special edition of Strange the Dreamer just because I couldn’t stand the US cover of the book. My edition is a beautiful marbled blue with stained blue pages.

Speaking of stained pages, I have a ton of books with them as well. This list includes Six of Crows, Crooked Kingdom, Heart of Iron, The Smoke Thieves, Beyond a Darkened Shore, etc.

What are some of the beautiful special editions you have gracing your shelves?

Follows two fiercely independent young women, centuries apart, who hold the power to save their world...or doom it.

When assassins ambush her best friend, the crown prince, Rielle Dardenne risks everything to save him, exposing her ability to perform all seven kinds of elemental magic. The only people who should possess this extraordinary power are a pair of prophesied queens: a queen of light and salvation and a queen of blood and destruction. To prove she is the Sun Queen, Rielle must endure seven trials to test her magic. If she fails, she will be executed...unless the trials kill her first.

A thousand years later, the legend of Queen Rielle is a mere fairy tale to bounty hunter Eliana Ferracora. When the Undying Empire conquered her kingdom, she embraced violence to keep her family alive. Now, she believes herself untouchable--until her mother vanishes without a trace, along with countless other women in their city. To find her, Eliana joins a rebel captain on a dangerous mission and discovers that the evil at the heart of the empire is more terrible than she ever imagined.

As Rielle and Eliana fight in a cosmic war that spans millennia, their stories intersect, and the shocking connections between them ultimately determine the fate of their world--and of each other.

If you had asked me at the beginning of 2018 what my most anticipated books were, Furyborn would've been in the top 5! I was lucky enough to end up with an ARC of this book pretty early and started reading it straight away... so why did it take until after the publication date to finish it? I don't think it's exaggerating to call this one of my biggest disappointments of the year.

Clocking in at over 500 pages and encompassing two different stories, 1000 years apart, Furyborn is just too much. It tries to be too much, while simultaneously not being enough. There are two protagonists in this story, as promised on the front cover - two queens will rise. Unfortunately, neither of these queens were written in a way that made me care much about them, a common theme throughout this book.

Rielle is the first queen, the one who lives in a medieval(ish) world where angels and magic, known as the Empirium, are reality. She has always known she could control all the elements and must prove that she has mastered them in order to be confirmed as the Sun Queen. She has a bit of a love triangle going on with the prince she grew up with (who happens to be betrothed) and another individual, who I can't say too much about. If I had to pick one of the main characters to care about, it would be Rielle, although I really don't know enough about her to have strong feelings either way, even after 500+ pages. It's a bit shocking to realize how little is really dished out over the course of such a massive book, to be honest.

The second queen is Eliana, an assassin who has some mysterious magical powers, but nothing near the level of Rielle, who is now just a story, along with angels and the Empirium. She runs into someone who she is unable to best, the Wolf, and is taken along with her brother to assist him in a mission. I didn't hate Eliana, but again, I didn't feel like I knew much about her. She also had some romance drama, although hers consisted of very quickly jumping from one love interest to another. At least there wasn't a love triangle, I guess?

The biggest issue with this book, as I've already mentioned, is that there isn't enough information, although how that's possible with a 500+ page book is beyond me. Furyborn jumps from action sequence to action sequence without giving the reader much actual information about the characters and the world, and the action itself quickly becomes repetitive. Rielle has to complete trials and we get a rinse and repeat of every single one. There are no stakes because we already know based on the prologue that she won't die. Although each trial attempts to make itself thrilling, and the first couple were, they quickly get old. Similarly, Eliana's chapters are a sequence of dumb decisions, fighting, and running.

This lack of information also applies to the world. Although the two worlds could be differentiated, they could really only be told apart by the fact that people believe in magic in one and don't in the other. There is no real description of the elemental magic, although the author did include a nifty chart in the back of the book, which feels a bit lazy. It would've added a lot more to the story if the elements Rielle was mastering had actually be explained instead of being plopped in a glossary. I also didn't feel like the difference between the different levels(???) of angels were explained well enough. Overall, there was just SO MUCH information that could've been given if this book had been written a bit differently.

Of course, when the characters and world aren't nearly well-defined enough, it isn't shocking that the plot also had its issues. By which I mean, what even was the plot? It seems that there's this grand thread tying both these girls stories together, but what is it? I get that both are supposed to be magical queens, but why are these stories told together? They don't flow together at all and each chapter took me completely out of the other character's story. There was once where the chapters got choppy as each character was going through a (particularly exciting?) action scene, but the two didn't have any cohesion whatsoever. It's just a very bizarre choice when two stories don't seem to have any overlap.

I'm no writer, and this isn't my story to tell, but as a reader, I think this story could've been saved had it been split into two books, with each one being better fleshed out. This really is two books spun together for a reason I can't fathom. Had book one been Rielle's story, with more world building and less repetitive action, and book two been focused on Eliana, I know I would have enjoyed it much more. I feel like there is a good story in this book somewhere, and I truly hope Claire Legrand is able to flesh it out more in book two of this trilogy, although I doubt I'll be reading it.

This topic has made me realize how badly I need to get back into dystopian books! I have been on a fantasy kick for the last year and I miss all of these absolutely terrible worlds so much! These are the top ten dystopian worlds I would never want to live in, along with my reasons why.

Happy long weekend, everyone! I hope everyone who's celebrating has good people to share it with (or at least good food)! My week has been pretty busy between candle making and dog sitting, which led to a slow read around the blog. :/ My husband and I finally bought a generator in preparation for this year's hurricane season... which seems to be upon us already. Here's hoping we don't have to use it this year! I received my first ever preorder from Goldsboro Books! I have the other two in the series, but I got them both on eBay. It was much more fun getting it straight from the source! I've also been focusing on running. I completed a 5k and a 6k in the last few weeks, but this week was the first time I've ran a 5k straight through, no walking, since I started running again this January! I'm so excited and I can't wait to enter a "real" race. All of mine so far have been through the Hogwarts and Whovian Running Clubs. Anyone else hate to run but love winning medals?

NEW BOOKS THIS WEEK

THIS WEEK I READ

CHELCIE'S HAPPENINGS OFF THE BLOG

Hello everyone! This was my last week working with my neighbor’s horse. They were super happy with her progress, but I feel like I could’ve done more with her. Either way, they’re really happy and now I’m giving their son lessons on her! It’s also t-minus 2 days until my birthday! I love having a birthday around a holiday weekend because I get some time off and can read a ton. I’m hoping to read a bunch more now that I don’t have a client horse to worry about at least for a little bit.

After getting caught hooking up with her best friend’s ex on the last day of junior year, Kendall starts senior year friendless and ostracized. She plans to keep her head down until she graduates. But after discovering her online identity has been hacked and she’s being framed for stealing from a dealer, Kendall is drawn into a tenuous partnership with the mastermind of a drug ring lurking in the shadows of her Brooklyn private school. If she wants to repair her tattered reputation and save her neck, she’ll have to decide who she really is—and own it. The longer she plays the role of “bad girl,” the more she becomes her new reputation. Friends and enemies, detectives and drug dealers—no one is who they appear to be. Least of all Kendall.

My mom was able to snag this book for me at Yallfest last year. I didn't know too much about the book going into it other than it was about a girl getting framed and leading to her getting sucked into the drug selling world. Because of this fact, I didn't really have a lot of expectations for this book and was just kinda meh about it. I was not really into this book nor was I really against it.

I have to give Kaplan some credit for trying to blend contemporary and mystery/thriller genres, but I just wasn't feeling it. The book seemed to be one genre one moment and then give me whiplash as it became another. I do wish this book had a bit more of mystery in it as it seemed to lack in that and be almost too predictable.

I found Kendall's character to be a little strange. I feel like the deeper I try to delve into her character the more uncomfortable I become. She didn't seem to have any true friends at all, people slut shame her horribly, and the deal she made with the drug lord was almost laughable. I would've said screw it to the space camp and not delivered the drugs. Kendall does end up learning a lot from her mistakes and growing a bit in the end, but I'm still not really sure how I feel about her.

This book did try to hit on things like the aforementioned slut shaming and rape, but I'm not really sure if it was in a good way or not as there aren't too many books out there that talk about these topics and, thank goodness, I haven't had to deal with issues like that.

I do kind of like how the romance was handled in this book. I couldn't live with myself having read this book if it ended any different from how it did. And there really wasn't to much of it which was a pleasant surprise compared to most YA books written these days.

While I do wish this book was a bit better, it definitely was pretty good for a debut novel, and I'll probably pick up another one of Maxine Kaplan's book in the future.

Don’t get me wrong, I love receiving books, reading them and then posting reviews, but lately I’ve been feeling the pressure. I got so many ARCs last year at BookCon and Yallfest, plus a bunch through trades and a few from publishers and authors. You can see how this kind of snowballed. I had so many ARCs to read that I was stressing myself out. I’m fact, I’m still stressing myself out a bit.

It’s gotten to the point now that as I’m slowly working through them that I’m finding a lot of books I was highly anticipating fell horribly short and a lot of the already published books I wanted to read were just sitting on my shelf. Frankly, it’s disappointing.

I really want to review all these books, but I don’t have time and I’m bummed when they don’t live up to the hype. Honestly, I’m kinda sick of letting the published books just sit when they almost seem more appealing to me.

And here lies the dilemma: do I stop reading my ARCs or finish what I’ve got and then read the already published books? I do have 3-4 more ARCs that I desperately want to read, but after that I’m not sure if I’ll read too many more at least for now. I don’t want to neglect all the brand new hardcovers I have laying around anymore. Plus I have a bunch of series that I need to finish.

Do you feel any review pressure at all? How do you choose what ARCs to read and what to set aside?

So. I can't remember character names to save my life. Literally two days after I finish a book I'll have to look it up to remember names. Let's be honest - weird sticks in the brain better than good, and that's how I ended up listing the top ten weirdest names that I could remember.

Hi everyone! This week has been extremely... rainy. We've had flood warnings, it looks like the Magic Kingdom keeps getting partially flooded, and it just won't stop! The forecast shows another solid ten days of rain, so hopefully we don't go under! Other than that, things have been uneventful. I've been working on candles, of course, and finishing up Supernatural season 13. I did actually get some reading in, but switching back and forth between books means I didn't actually finish much! XD

NEW BOOKS THIS WEEK

No new books this week!

THIS WEEK I READ

CHELCIE'S HAPPENINGS OFF THE BLOG

Hi, everyone! This week wasn’t super eventful, but I did have to work a ton. Gotta get that money to support my book buying habit somehow lol. I did get to take part in my first ever barrel race, and my horse did amazing! Every run she did she got better and better. I’m really hoping to have her dialed in by the end of the summer and be able to place in the overall standings. I also found out that my other horse that I took to Rhode Island is pregnant!! I’m gonna have a baby horsie next spring!

Another slow movie week, especially considering I didn't even watch the second half of the first one. I actually spent most of the week finishing up Supernatural season 12, in anticipation of season 13 coming to Netflix very soon! But we're here to talk movies, so without further ado...

THIS WEEK IN SCREEN TIME

The Florida Project - You guys. I tried. So hard. I couldn't do it. Going in, I knew the basic premise of this movie, but I kind of expected, you know, a movie? Instead, I watched 45 minutes of some kids running around different motels and playing. There were some shots of one of the hotel managers talking to people, wrapping up a mattress, and other mundane things, and some scenes of the parents talking to each other and selling perfume to passersby. What I'm trying to tell you is there was absolutely no story whatsoever. It's literally just kids playing. I could go outside and watch kids play in my neighborhood. I understand that this movie was trying to do something different or profound or whatever, but I found it painfully boring. I gave up less than halfway through. This movie is meant for a very specific kind of moviegoer and I definitely do not fit that mold. (1/5 stars)Deadpool 2 - Thankfully, the week was SAVED by Deadpool 2! While I didn't think it was a perfect films, I will never get tired of how aware these movies are of themselves. The jokes were on point, the cameos were hilarious, and I loved all the new characters! Cable was absolutely fantastic, as were all the new characters. And the end credit scenes were arguably the best part of the entire thing! I cannot wait to see where the next Deadpool movie goes after what happened during the credits. Absolutely go see this if you loved Deadpool. You won't be disappointed! (4.5/5 stars)

The longing of dreams draws the dead, and this city holds many dreams.

After a supernatural showdown with a serial killer, Evie O’Neill has outed herself as a Diviner. With her uncanny ability to read people’s secrets, she’s become a media darling, earning the title “America’s Sweetheart Seer.” Everyone’s in love with the city’s newest It Girl…everyone except the other Diviners.

Piano-playing Henry DuBois and Chinatown resident Ling Chan are two Diviners struggling to keep their powers a secret—for they can walk in dreams. And while Evie is living the high life, victims of a mysterious sleeping sickness are turning up across New York City.

As Henry searches for a lost love and Ling strives to succeed in a world that shuns her, a malevolent force infects their dreams. And at the edges of it all lurks a man in a stovepipe hat who has plans that extend farther than anyone can guess…As the sickness spreads, can the Diviners descend into the dreamworld to save the city?

In this heart-stopping sequel to The Diviners, Printz Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Libba Bray takes readers deeper into the mystical underbelly of New York City.

Libba Bray does it yet again! Her writing is absolutely amazing, and I just cannot get enough! Not only do we get to hear from many characters from the last book, but there are a few new characters tossed in that add so much to this book.

If you love books with a very diverse cast, then you need to pick this one up. We get to see points of view from main characters who are black, Asian, disabled, gay, and Jewish, plus a whole lot more!

We’re thrust back into to roaring 20’s with speakeasies, parties, and fame galore. As each character fights to make their dreams reality, others dreams are literally killing them. With a new villain that will raise the hairs on the back of your neck, these characters are really in for it.

And I have to mention again that this narrator for the audiobook is absolutely superb! I’m definitely checking out all the books that she’s ever narrated from my library.

I’m so lucky that I jumped into this series a little later on because the first two books were published about three years apart. I have to give all the people that started The Diviners right away props because I never could’ve waited that long for this book to come out. And I’m very happy that the third book is out as well so I can read that one too!

If you have not picked up this series, you NEED to! I promise that you won’t be disappointed!

I did my first anti-haul post for Fall 2017 and kind of forgot about them after that... whoops! Today I'm catching up. The idea is to share the books that I will NOT be purchasing instead of the books I'm excited to read. Here's my anti-haul for Winter 2017/2018 and Spring 2018!

Last year I tried. I tried SO HARD to read Daughter of the Burning City! And I was so, so bored. At first, I thought maybe Ace of Shades would be the book that redeemed Amanda Foody for me, but I've not heard great things. In fact, every friend I've talked to who has read it actually kind of hated it. I just don't think she's the author for me.

Is it really shallow of me to say that I'm a Marvel girl? I've watched most of the older DC movies and even kind of enjoyed Wonder Woman, but I just have no attachment whatsoever to any DC character other than the original Superman. I don't think I could make myself care about Batman if I tried. Sadly, not even when Batman is written by Marie Lu.

Oh, Jay. You're such a cool guy. I love following you on Twitter and Illuminae was a super cool book! You have the best sense of humor and I really wish I liked more of your books. But. Other than Illuminae, I've never enjoyed a Jay Kristoff book. I feel like his humor is too evident in all of his books and it makes them kind of blur together. I don't know, maybe I'll give him another shot eventually. Maybe I'll pick this one up on audio at my library, but I'm not holding out much hope.

This was literally one of my top three most anticipated books of 2018, but it was so bad. I was lucky(?) enough to read an advance copy and was truly shocked when I ended up canceling my preorder. Something happened to this series between books one and two and whatever it was really didn't work for me.

I feel like anyone who reads my blog is aware of my extreme hatred for the Red Queen trilogy series. I enjoyed Red Queen, despised Glass Sword, and couldn't even make it halfway through King's Cage. I can't imagine War Storm will redeem the series in any way as long as Mare continues to exist within the universe. The chance of this book ending up on my shelf is less than zero.

After being swept up in the magical world of Caraval, Donatella Dragna has finally escaped her father and saved her sister Scarlett from a disastrous arranged marriage. The girls should be celebrating, but Tella isn’t yet free. She made a desperate bargain with a mysterious criminal, and what Tella owes him no one has ever been able to deliver: Caraval Master Legend’s true name.

The only chance of uncovering Legend’s identity is to win Caraval, so Tella throws herself into the legendary competition once more—and into the path of the murderous heir to the throne, a doomed love story, and a web of secrets…including her sister's. Caraval has always demanded bravery, cunning, and sacrifice. But now the game is asking for more. If Tella can’t fulfill her bargain and deliver Legend’s name, she’ll lose everything she cares about—maybe even her life. But if she wins, Legend and Caraval will be destroyed forever.

Welcome, welcome to Caraval...the games have only just begun.

Caraval was one of my absolute favorite reads of 2017 and I was pretty sure nothing could top it! Still, I had to get my hands on a copy of Legendary and I dug in as soon as I had it. I wasn't sure it would live up to the same magic as Caraval, but as I got deeper into the story, it appeared lightening actually had struck twice. What I'm trying to say is Legendary is somehow even better than its predecessor!

While Scarlett was the MC of Caraval, Legendary is Tella's story. I didn't have a problem with Scarlett while reading the first book, but Tella ended up being an even more fantastic main character! She was extremely relatable, always a bit terrified of everything happening around her, but staying strong to do what needed to be done. Everything that went on in this book was mysterious and Tella was never quite sure of herself. Though she definitely had some reckless moments, they were at least understandable and I enjoyed every minute I got to spend with her.

Of course, Tella isn't the only character in this story. Some other familiar faces are back from Caraval and while some have smaller roles, others become much more important. Dante quickly became one of my favorites, as did Jacks, one of the new characters introduced. There were a few minutes where I thought the dreaded love triangle might make an appearance, but luckily that wasn't the case. Still, I found myself feeling all kinds of feelings for both these mysterious (there's that word again) men! And the romance was absolutely swoon-worthy. Scarlett and Julian also showed up from time to time, but this story really wasn't about them and I found that I didn't much care what they were going through (but not in a mean way??). I just really wanted to spend all my time with Tella, Dante, and Jacks and thankfully, that's mostly what I got.

One of the things I wasn't quite sure of going into this sequel was where the story could possibly go. I knew there was more to learn about Legend and Caraval, but I had no idea what would happen next and whether it could possibly be as magical as the story of Scarlett making it through Caraval. Well, my fear was completely unfounded because Stephanie Garber's imagination knows no bounds. I was on the edge of my seat as Tella went into the game for herself this time around and with even higher stakes than when Scarlett played! There was so much to unpack in this story! I loved that we got a deeper look into the mythology of Legend and his game and where the magic comes from.

Which finally brings me to the world. Caraval already proved that Stephanie Garber can craft an incredible fantasy world and Legend put me right back into it. Though the game moved to a new location, I felt like I could picture each and every part of it. In fact, I find myself thinking about these amazing settings and picturing it clearly in my mind like I've been there amidst the palace and temples. This author truly has a gift.

I didn't think I could love a book more than I loved Caraval, but Legendary has surpassed it! It has everything - drama, magic, romance, mystery... Someone asked me to describe in a word what Caraval was and the only word I could use was "magic." Caraval, and Legendary by extension, is dark magic from the world to the characters to the story it tells. I absolutely recommend this book to any lover of fantasy and (obviously) anyone who loved Caraval!

Top Ten Books I Hated but Am Really Glad I Read(Because They Gave Me a Chance to Rant)

You guys. Little known fact: I love to rant. Of course, I hate reading books that suck, but the one good thing that comes out of them is that they give me the opportunity to rant about how bad they are. These are my top ten books that I've hated but loved writing rants about! (Today's titles link directly to the aforementioned rants.)

Hi everyone! I actually read some books this week! Shocking, I know. On Tuesday I picked my husband up from a business trip, so we've been hopping around to all our favorite spots so he can catch up on some things he's missed... like Infinity War! Spoilers: it's just as good the second time! We also have tickets for Deadpool 2 this week and I can't wait! We spent yesterday visiting a semi-local German bakery and a winery with friends. Overall, not a week I can complain much about. Things did have to get serious, though, when we took our youngest dog to the vet to talk about medication. As it turns out, we'll be trying Prozac for the next month to see if his little brain is able to calm down any. I used to talk about all of his issues in my recaps, but now his hyperactivity has just become normal. We're hoping that with medication he's able to relax for a change, instead of jumping at every noise. Cross your fingers for us!

NEW BOOKS THIS WEEK

THIS WEEK I READ

CHELCIE'S HAPPENINGS OFF THE BLOG

Hi, everyone! It’s been yet another busy week between picking up more hours at work and training my neighbor’s horse. She is coming leaps and bounds, which makes me such a happy camper! I didn’t have much time to read this week, but I’m hoping to get a bunch of reading in next week. Oh, and a happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there!